> equity compensation at startups is generally not sufficient to overcome the pay cut

... so don't take the job. Everything will naturally sort itself out -- a startup will increase their grants, hire different people, or not hire and fail. :shrug:

This thread sure looks like it's full of people who can't get that well paid job at google, are taking jobs at less demanding employers out of necessity, and are mad about it. Otherwise, we're living through one of the absolutely hottest markets for engineering talent we've ever seen, so getting a new job is always an option if you're worth the money.

As for founder vs employee risk... certainly at my company, every employee except for the founders walked into a six figure cash comp, fully paid health insurance, and a runway that's never fallen below 12 months.